Harp.



Patented Oct. 3, |899.` H. HEYMANN.

HARP.

(Application led Jan. 3, 1899.)

(N0 Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

HENRY HEYMANN, OF ROCHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA.

` HARP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 634,142, dated October 3, 1899.

Application filed January 3, 1899.

T0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that LHENEY HEYMANN, a citizen ofthe United States,residing at Rochester, in the county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful harp on which I can produce all chords desired in major, minor, or sevenths, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in harps.

My invention is somewhat similar to the Zimmerman autoharp, which does work with bars and felt just like mine does; but the Zimmerman harp has bars on which remain in one place and which cannot be tuned or setas itis perhaps often wished, so I have made one that can be set and tuned to the players wish, as it has bars which can be taken off and set in the key desired.

y Now I will explain the drawings of the same.

Figure 1 shows the harp and how the bars lie on it when ready to play. Fig. 2 shows the harp when the bars are removed from it. Fig. 3 shows one end of a bar with the twelve holes in it and which render it capable of being set in different keys to produce different chords. Fig. l shows the same end of the bar and how the iron pins are driven through it. Fig. 5` shows the tuning-board which is fastened to barNo. 3. Fig. G shows one bar with the holes in and how the felt is stuck to the bottom of it. Fig. 7 shows the little spring which elevates the bars above the strings. Fig. 8 shows a piece of tin bent over at the sides with a hole in it to protect the felt. Fig. 9 shows the little pick by which the harp is played.

Now I will explain the whole harp in all its details and how it is played.

The letters refer to the similar parts.

Fig. 1 shows the harp with the bars a on and ready to play. It is strung chromatically. It has iron pins stuck fast in the top of it, seven in each side, like c in Fig. 2, and has two little blocks fastened on top, one on each side of the harp, as s in Fig. 2. On top of one of these blocks is a little board t', which is fastened by a nail on the upper block, which enables board rl to turn to all angles. On the end of board t' is a little hook o, whichy hooks in at a tack in the lower block.

The bars d in Fig. l are cut out at the end,

Serial No. 701,082. (No modcl.-

as Figs. 3 and 6 show, and have iron pins rr driven therethrough, so as to make twelve holes 7a in each end, as Figs. 3 and G show. Fig. 4 shows the pins, how they are driven through the wood of the bars, also the thickness of the felt on the bottom of the bars.

Fig. 5 shows the tuning-board, which is fastened to No. 3 bar, which enables everybody to set the bars and produce the desired chord in whatever key they wish to play.

Fig. C shows a bar enlarged, with the felt on the bottom and leaving spaces in which the certain strings play that produce the chord. Of course every bar is cutout different in the felt.

Fig. 7 shows the spring that goes over the pins c in Fig. 2 to hold the bars above the strings about one-fourth of an inch.

Fig. S is that piece of tin bent over at the sides with the hole e in it which lets the pins c pass through it and lies on top of the springs or between springs and bars, and is there to protect the felt from the springs.

Fig. 9 is the pick which you stick on your thumb to run over the strings with or pick certain strings with. A

The seven pins seen in each side of the harp, as Fig. 2, are there to go through the holes of the bars and let the bars slide up a nd down over them, the springs which lie under holding them up, and in playing press the bars up again as soon as the fingers which have depressed them are taken away from them. The bars have also a strip of celluloid on top, which is glued and fastened by two brass nails and which have the numbers from 1 to 7 printed on, so as to tell the bars apart from another, and in order that the bars cannot jump away from the pins in which they work the little board t' is provided, which when the bars are put in their places is turned crosswise over the bars and with the hooks 0 is fastened to the lower block s, and so the bars have to stay where they are.

The bars Nos. 1, 3, 5, and 7 produce the 1najor chords and Nos. 2, 4, and 6 produce the sevenths in the way when bar No. 3 is tuned or set in the key ot' C. No. 3 bar plays then the C chord, No. 1 the G chord, No. 5 the F chord, and No. '7 the B-Iiat chord, while No. 2 then plays the D-seventh chord, No. 4c the (ir-seventh chord, and No. 6 the C-scventh IOO c esame chord, and so will the chords change if the bars are put in other holes, and if the bars Nos. l, 3, 5, and 7 are turned around so that the numbers of the 'saine come thenon the left-hand side they will produce the minor chords. The harp that way will produce twelve major, twelve minor, and twelve seventh chords.

Below the bars on Fig. l is the keyboard, which is fastened to the harp. It has figures and letters on and below the certain letters to tell the half-tones. I have marked them with a cross or sharp mark, and to tell the different octaves l have put above the figures of the lower octave little crosses, above the middle octave little dots, and above the higher octave little lines. Now by playing chords on the harp take the pick, Fig. 9, and run with the pick across the strings below thc keyboard, so producing a chord. I wish to naine it guitarharp, because it can easilybe used instead of a guitar, and it sounds ever as good as a guitar and is so much easier to play.

Now what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A dam per-bar for an autoharp havinga longitudinal slot at each end and provided with a series of rods or wires passed transversely through said slot toform a series of recesses as means for transposition on the pins of the autoharp.

HENRY IIEYMAN N.

Witnesses JOHN S. Geenen, HENRY MEYER.. 

